life – Page 2 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Sliding into Home Plate . . .

It seems that these past two months have been about craziness. Or cascade effects – one thing leading to another.

I got my sewing cabinet by paying for it and leaving 3 weeks between purchase and delivery. To make it work I had to move a book case and a tansu; the book case to the garage, the tansu to the studio. To put the book case into the garage meant at least 5 trips to the Goodwill donation site, and moving around and discarding more crap than anyone else should be allowed to have. To put the tansu into the studio meant moving photography equipment into the garage and into the studio, taking up the space of a displaced book case.

To move stuff into the studio meant moving stuff out of the studio, consolidating art and photography supplies, moving books into the living room.

To make more room in the garage for book cases and photography stuff meant moving boxes of books from the garage into the living room. Boxes of books in the bedroom closet leapt out and moved into the living room as well. A call to the book buyer meant setting up a date for him to come by, and sorting out 25 boxes of keep and sell. Most were sell. Two book cases in the living room joined the sell pile, as did 3/4 of a book case in the family room.

The living room became the unliving room.

Meanwhile, the sewing cabinet was delivered and set up. Next, figuring out how to position it – facing the wall? facing the sliding doors? (The latter won out.)

Time for the book buyer. He arrived. He bought. I threw in what he didn’t want to buy. Now the living room is once more a room with room, and only one book case full of books.

In this mix, a quilting class is ongoing, my Pencil Portrait class ended, my painting continues, and a colored pencil drawing class begins tomorrow. I have to put together my drawing box with supplies for a new class, some different things, some new things, some old things. The class begins tomorrow at 9:30 a.m., and like the good kiddie I am, I want to be ready for the first day of school.

The finale came this morning. I took to the road, to a real, live, professional office store 30 miles away and got the last item: the chair for the sewing cabinet. Not some rinky-dink piece of junk, but a real chair that should last a long time, and keep me comfy for hours of sewing. Mine is the one in the middle.

Finally, time for a breath, coffee, step out to admire the flowers, and then tidy up all that was left in chaos these past few days.

I have room on my book shelves, closet space, living room space, sewing space, art space, and enough room in the garage to swing a cat under the full moon.

More still needs be done, such as hanging pictures and more garage purging, but the big struggle is done. Time now to settle in and see how it all works out.

Yay!

Thoughts Before the Big Blow

Politics, weather, pandemic. I think it is all making me even crazier than before. We can expect 40 mph winds on Tuesday. The temperature will be cooler than the 90F of yesterday, so hopefully less chance of fires. It’s like the end times so many look forward to, but not me – I like my life! Still, there is an interesting bit of stress going on that I can only equate to living in a war zone of some sort. We just don’t know what is going to happen. I wonder if what I am feeling can be equated to what people and families went through when WW2 was beginning – a sense of unease and that the fabric of life is not what you think it is supposed to be. It’s a very strange feeling.

So, the Big Blow. Some areas are going to get 80 mph winds – not quite hurricane strength, but certainly strong. People in the midwest have gotten those just recently along with a lot of snow. That doesn’t sound pleasant at all. Can you imagine your roof flying off? I know that several years ago parts of Great Britain got them and villages were cut off and food supplies and other stuff needed coptering in. At least here we have a lot of things, and the stores are open. And no snow. Even further back, upstate New York had horrific blizzards, and livelihoods were lost amongst the farmers, especially dairies. Cows died because they couldn’t be milked without electricity.

I’m just blithering around thinking about things. Nothing profound, but I have finally had a few minutes to sit down to reflect as I have been really busy today. We had to get some tools for Josh’s car project, so we looked at plants and bulbs and seeds. Then I talked with Am, our aunt who has been working hard in the hospital caring for Covid patients. She is doing really well despite it all, and it was good to have a chance to hear how things are. Then, off to buy some computer stuff – our keyboards are worn out, and as I had to replace my old computer last week, I am still catching up with it, installing software on it, coordinating printers and scanners. It is a pain but now that things are sorted, this is my first post using the new computer, keyboard, mouse, etc. No new monitors as I got those awhile back for my birthday. Luckily, I know a fair amount about computers so it is not challenging, just time consuming.

The studio, though, has been the scene of upheaval. Computers need cords and such, and while you are down there sorting things out, you better get into the dust and debris that lurks under the desk. I did, and while it wasn’t awful, it was good to sort stuff out by vacuuming and untangling cables. Now I need to place things back where they belong so I can find a paint brush or a camera. Finally, sewing – the new space is working out well. I’ve made an apron and two pairs of jammy pants for Josh; time for me to get something!

Despite all the external upheaval, things are pleasant around here. We are fortunate to have good family and friends and good health. Not much to gripe about at all.

Time to get out on the bike for the next adventure!

Vagaries in the Real World

In my perfect world, I would paint every day. In my real world, I have limited time just because I have so many interests. Little things can become big things, not necessarily bad, but in the sense of taking more time than planned. Also, life can produce some interesting lessons.

For example, I have recently found that 3M 101+ tape is the best tape for watercolor paper borders. Lightweight, seemingly impervious to unsticking with a lot of water from a wash, easily removable without tearing paper even when not using a blow dryer to warm it as you pull it off . . .

We bought a motion-activated infrared trail cam to determine what critter was destroying our plants in the side garden. Mouses! Traps caught one with cheese – ours seem to dislike peanut butter. I think they have learned their lesson. The leaves are returning to the plants they ate. They also figured out not to go into the traps otherwise chompy chompy. Fortunately, I don’t deal with the traps or dead things.

The 818S is going along nicely. Brakes are the first big addition to it. Josh has been riveting and blogging away at 805-818.com if you want to see.

I am sewing masks again, this time on my Singer 403A. Threads need cutting, something that a computerized machine automates along with back stitching. Technologies have changed since the 1950s for sure!

The ham will be used to iron out the masks I am currently sewing up. Thanks to AVWalters for that suggestion! I don’t tend to iron them, but why not as it is waiting to be used, looking very ham-like and hamsome.

I have also decided on the pattern to use and material for my 1920s dress. Now, after the masks are done, I will dig out the pattern and determine if I have enough material in my stash for it. If not, what?

Also, decided to do more medium format photography with my Big Beast cameras – the ones that have modular parts or interchangeable lenses. They weigh in at 500 lbs. easily, so a neck strap and a tripod or monopod make photography life easier.

With the sewing project and photography project, as well as oodles of appointments – 3 this week, 2 next – painting and drawing of course have gone to the wayside. I don’t see this as a bad thing, but something to return to refreshed by not being there. I see it as a vacation. Go away. Come back. Refreshed by the differences. Eager to begin again.

Oh, and I have a sweater to dye with indigo, another one to start work on, some spinning to do, and some shibori to plan when I do the indigo dye day.

And a bike to ride.

Ciao for niao!

So, Wuzzup?

Wuzzup?

I have been following my New Year’s resolution pretty steadily. Painting, photography, study, socializing, reading, and doing things I enjoy. Somewhat scheduled, somewhat not. I kept a record for about a week of what I did in the morning and afternoon – in between which was lunch and a nap usually – and thought about how I felt about my day. In general, I found I enjoyed each day a great deal more. I didn’t do the same things every day (other than the usual boring daily routines), but found I did enough to find satisfaction.

Doing some watercolors was satisfying. I hope to do some later this morning before heading out to meet up with a friend. I haven’t done any gouache this year, but that is also on the agenda. Here are some of the paintings.

I also read some fiction – a favorite novel from the 1940s – and started some nonfiction, a book about photography I received as a Christmas present, Behind the Camera. It’s nice to sit outdoors with a book and a cup of coffee or tea, put my feet up, and read. The weather has varied from chilly to warmish, and so have I!

Add to that, I have been learning about a camera which I recently bought: a used Pentax (Honeywell Asahi) non-MLU (mirror lock-up) 6×7 camera. It has been frustrating and fascinating. First, the thing weighs in about 5 lbs. Lugging it around is amusing. I pulled out a tripod. It takes 120 film, and you get ten 6×7 images out of it – supposedly. Out of the 10 exposures I made, only 3 came out, and all came out under-exposed. No idea why.

As a result of these mishaps, I loaded up more film, and logged every picture I took. And did it with a second roll, too. I bracketed my images as well as varied exposure factors to get the same picture exposures (i.e. 8 @ 1/30 then 5.6 @ 1/60) using Lomo Color Negative 100 film. I took the two rolls yesterday morning, and dropped them off around noon.

Here are the three images from the first roll, which is Portra 400 – what a waste!

Pentax 6×7 Kodak Portra 400

Yashica D – Fuji Pro 400 H

I am really curious as to what comes back from the photo lab – hopefully fairly soon. If these are also dismal failures, back the camera goes to the vendor!

So, nothing exciting in my life, like flying to Paris for lunch on a whim. But, some satisfaction, and some frustration, just like real life!

Sunday Morning

This morning I awoke to the sounds of birds and the rustle of leaves in the breeze. The sunlight was dim through the windows, with hints of blue, presaging an incredible day. Now the sun is up, and all that seemed promised is true. New leaves are appearing on the tulip tree and the redbud; the birds are still singing. Robert Browning wrote, “all’s right with the world.” On mornings such as this, it is best to believe it, and so I shall.

So, what to do? We are having family over for Sunday dinner, so there are things to be done around the house, a bit of shopping, a bit of cooking. It is a simple thing to do – marinated lamb roast, salad, bread or rice or potatoes, tzatziki. The company is to be enjoyed, and hopefully all invited will be able to join.

Life – and time to finally live it – is grand. No more “return to work” dates; I choose what to do and when. The Puritan side of me espouses “pain before pleasure,” meaning, get the unpleasant stuff out of the way ASAP! That means chores, like cleaning. I like clean things, but the cleaning process is not exciting – I’d rather be outside digging in the dirt or drawing or reading. The satisfaction of a chore, to me, is when it is done. Putting it off dulls the joy in other activities, but as I like an orderly and relatively clean house and studio, it makes sense. Doing the unpleasant first makes the rest of the day move into infinity.

Yesterday I bought some plants -peppers, alyssum, dianthus. Bulbs were on sale half price since it is past their season. Potting soil, too. Before I start the dinner shopping, but after housework, I shall begin work on my little front yard flower bed. My gardener worked in some soil for me, and now I have some ideas as to what I am going to do with it. Its a sunny – shady area as it faces west, with the house to the east. Afternoons find it quite shady, and as summer comes along, I think it gets shady earlier. Alyssum and dianthus will be along the outer borders of the plot – see below – bulbs sporadically distributed depending on their sun requirements – and the peppers will be placed in their own pots out on the sunny southern patio (aka “the dog-free zone” or the “DFZ”!)

Along with gardening, planning for my next painting is on the way. I have been following various YouTube painters – as you have seen in earlier posts – but I have also been working my way through a book on perspective and contemplating spartan photography. (Huh? Wuzzat?)

And, Josh and I spent 3 days in San Diego, which was something wonderful to do – get away from it all to enjoy coming back to it all!